Boy born with half a heart thrives after surgery at Children's Hospital

Merrimac boy born with hypoplastic heart syndrome

Bill and Becky McGowan were halfway through their first pregnancy when an ultrasound revealed the unthinkable.

They had just learned Becky McGowan was carrying a boy when the technician noticed something unusual on the ultrasound image.

They went from joy to sheer terror in the blink of an eye.

"We were so excited," Becky McGowan remembers. "Then the doctor took us aside and said there was something wrong with his heart, and we both just stopped breathing."

Their precious baby had a rare, devastating heart defect.

"He sat down and said he has hypoplastic heart syndrome," Becky McGowan said. It is a rare defect in which the left ventricle is severely underdeveloped.

Simply put, their son had only half a heart.

Becky McGowan was advised to have an abortion and try again.

Bill McGowan said will never forget that moment, he was absolutely stunned. "Our mentality was that we play by the hand you are dealt."

He said he and Becky never considered ending the pregnancy. Instead, they went looking for solutions. And they didn’t have to look far.

The couple, who lives in Merrimac, Mass., found the expertise they needed at Boston Children’s Hospital, credited by US News and World Report as having the No. 1 pediatric cardiac care team in the country.

It was there that Becky realized all hope was not lost.

"As soon as we said termination was off the table for us, Children’s was like 'Good, that’s what we’re here for,'" she said.

The hospital team put a plan into place. Their son, Lucas, would need a total of three surgeries, the first soon after birth. Like 95 percent of these babies treated at Children’s Hospital, Lucas survived the first procedure.

The success rate is so high that families travel there from all over the world to give their babies a fighting chance.

It’s a delicate procedure, complicated by the fact that a baby’s heart is no bigger that its tiny fist at birth.

Over the last 20 years, surgeons have discovered how to strengthen the remaining pumping chamber so that it can do the work of two.

So far, Lucas has had two of the three operations and is thriving.

"Will he grow up to be a professional football player? Probably not," said his cardiac surgeon, Dr. Christopher Baird, "Maybe not a football star, or maybe he won’t run a marathon, although he may be out there running 5 Ks!"

Today it’s impossible for the McGowans to imagine their lives without Lucas.

Bill watches him run around with all the curiosity and stamina of a healthy 2-year-old boy. "He is an amazing kid and everybody loves him, and I’m in construction with rough and tumble guys, but everybody just melts when they see him."

Lucas faces one more surgery in the coming year, but the McGowan’s feel confident believing he’s in capable hands.

Looking back on that hand they were dealt midway through pregnancy, Bill said in hindsight, it’s turned out great.

"It’s a very good hand, all aces," he said.

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